Mouths of Sirion
Also calledThe Havens of Sirion, Sirion's Haven, The Delta of Sirion
The Mouths of Sirion were the marshy delta where the great river met the Bay of Balar. There the Havens of Sirion rose as the final refuge of the Elves and Edain of Beleriand, home to Eärendil and Elwing, until the sons of Fëanor destroyed them in the Third Kinslaying.
Description
The delta
Where Sirion reached the sea it broke into many channels among sands and reed-beds, and the whole spreading delta with its islets and lagoons was called the Mouths of Sirion. The Bay of Balar lay beyond, sheltered on the west by the Isle of Balar, and the coast of Arvernien ran away to the west of the outermost channel. The water of the delta was Sirion's, and because Ulmo's power ran in that river the place had a protection of its own; for a long time Morgoth's thought was turned elsewhere and the marshes were never conquered by his armies.
The Havens
The first settlement grew out of Turgon's hope of the Sea. After the Dagor Bragollach he sent companies of Gondolindrim secretly down Sirion to build ships with Círdan's help, and from these mouths the mariners set out on the voyages west from which none but Voronwë returned. When the Falas fell, Círdan's people moved to Balar and to the delta, and after the second Kinslaying the survivors of Doriath came down the river under Elwing, bringing with them the Silmaril. Tuor and Idril brought the survivors of Gondolin there some years later, and out of these scattered peoples, Sindar, Noldor, Falathrim and Men of the three houses, grew the Havens of Sirion, a town of huts and shipyards on the sands where for a generation the last free Elves of Beleriand lived under the shadow of the river-mists.
Eärendil and Elwing
Eärendil grew from boyhood to manhood at the Havens. He became their lord when his parents departed, married Elwing, and had by her the twin sons Elrond and Elros. With Círdan's aid he built Vingilot and sailed from the delta again and again into the enchanted seas, seeking Aman and seeking Tuor, and Elwing waited for him with the Silmaril, which the people believed was the source of the Havens' safety and the healing of their hurts.
History
The Third Kinslaying
Word of the Silmaril at Sirion reached the sons of Fëanor, and their oath awoke. Maedhros held back for a while, sick of what the oath had already done, but at last he and his brothers sent to Elwing demanding the jewel, and the people of the Havens refused, for Eärendil was at sea and the Silmaril was the token of the deeds of Beren and Lúthien. In the year 538 the Fëanorians fell on the Havens. It was the cruellest of the three Kinslayings, for some of the attackers' own followers turned against them and were killed defending the town; Amrod and Amras both died there. The Havens were destroyed, and the survivors either escaped to Círdan and Gil-galad on Balar or were taken. Elwing, cornered with the jewel, threw herself into the sea, and Ulmo bore her up in the shape of a white bird and carried her to Eärendil's ship far out on the water. Maedhros and Maglor found only her two young sons; Maglor took them and, unlooked-for, came to love them, and Elrond and Elros grew up in his keeping.
The voyage west
With the Silmaril bound on his brow Eärendil turned Vingilot westward once more and, with Elwing beside him, came through the shadows and the Enchanted Isles to the shores of Aman. His plea to the Valar for pity on Elves and Men brought the host of the West to Middle-earth, and the ruin of the Havens thus led directly to the overthrow of Morgoth. After the war the survivors of Sirion, with the other Eldar who chose to stay, passed east to Lindon, and the delta with all the southern coast sank beneath the sea.
Geography
The Mouths of Sirion lay at the southernmost point of the river's course, south of the willow-country of Nan-tathren where the Narog came in, and east of Cape Balar and the coast of Arvernien. The Bay of Balar opened southward; the isle of Balar lay off the western horn of the bay, near enough that fugitives from the Havens could reach it by boat.
Associated figures
Dwelt in
Lord of Arvernien
Eärendil
Half-elvenEärendil, son of Tuor and Idril of Gondolin and husband of Elwing, was the mariner who, bearing a Silmaril on his brow, crossed the Shadowy Seas that no ship had passed, stood before the Valar in Valinor, and won the aid of the West against Morgoth. He never came back to mortal shores: his ship Vingilot was raised into the sky, and the light of the jewel he carries is the Evening Star.
Arvernien and the Havens of Sirion; afterwards the heavensHigh King of the Noldor
Gil-galad
NoldorEreinion Gil-galad was the last High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth. Sent to the Havens as a child, he took up the kingship after the fall of Gondolin, ruled Lindon through the whole of the Second Age, refused Sauron the gates of his realm, received two of the Three Rings, and led the Last Alliance of Elves and Men with Elendil. He died with Elendil on the slopes of Mount Doom overthrowing Sauron.
LindonLord of the House of Hador
Tuor
House of HadorTuor son of Huor, born after his father's death at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, was raised by Grey-elves in Mithrim, enslaved by Easterlings, and chosen by Ulmo to carry his warning to the hidden city of Gondolin. There he married Turgon's daughter Idril, fathered Eärendil, and led the survivors out of the city's fall. At the end of his life he sailed into the West, and alone of Men he is said to have been numbered among the Elves.
Hithlum; Gondolin; the Havens of SirionLord of the Falas
Círdan
SindarCírdan the Shipwright, a Telerin kinsman of Thingol who stayed on the shores of Middle-earth when the ships sailed West, was lord of the Falas in the First Age and of the Grey Havens through the Second and Third. He built the ships of the Elves for three Ages, bore the Ring of Fire until he gave it to Gandalf, and remained at the Havens until the last ship should sail.
The Falas; afterwards Lindon and the Grey HavensLady of the Havens of Sirion
Elwing
Half-elvenElwing, daughter of Dior and Nimloth and granddaughter of Beren and Lúthien, carried the Silmaril out of the ruin of Doriath and refused to yield it to the sons of Fëanor. When they sacked the Havens of Sirion she cast herself into the sea with the jewel and was borne up as a white bird to her husband Eärendil, with whom she reached Valinor. She chose the fate of the Elves and dwells on the shore of Aman.
Doriath, then the Havens of Sirion; afterwards a tower on the shores of AmanPrincess of Gondolin
Idril
NoldorIdril Celebrindal, only child of Turgon of Gondolin, married the mortal Tuor and bore Eärendil, the mariner who saved both kindreds. Her foresight built the secret way out of the hidden city, and by it she led the survivors of Gondolin's fall to safety. She was the second union of Elves and Men, and the ancestress of the Half-elven.
Gondolin
Born in
Lord of Rivendell
Elrond
Half-elvenElrond Half-elven, son of Eärendil and Elwing, chose the fate of the Elves and lived through three Ages of the world: fostered by Maglor, herald to Gil-galad at the Last Alliance, founder and master of Rivendell, keeper of the Ring Vilya, foster-father of Aragorn and father of Arwen. His house was the great refuge and library of the North, and at its Council the fate of the One Ring was decided.
Rivendell (Imladris)
Fought at
Lord of Himring
Maedhros
NoldorMaedhros, eldest son of Fëanor, was the tallest and most temperate of the seven brothers, the captive of Thangorodrim rescued by Fingon, and the lord of Himring who anchored the eastern Siege of Angband. Bound by the Oath, he led the last two Kinslayings and ended his life by casting himself and a Silmaril into a chasm of fire.
Himring and the March of MaedhrosLord of Maglor's Gap
Maglor
NoldorMaglor, second son of Fëanor, was the greatest singer and harper of the Noldor, who held the gap between Himring and the Blue Mountains and fostered Elrond and Elros after the Third Kinslaying. Last of his brothers, he cast his Silmaril into the Sea and wandered the shores of Middle-earth in grief, singing.
Maglor's Gap
Died in
Lords of the south of East Beleriand
Amrod and Amras
NoldorAmrod and Amras, the red-haired twin sons of Fëanor and the youngest of the seven, were hunters who held the wide woods of southern East Beleriand. They followed their brothers through every battle and both Kinslayings in Beleriand and died together in the assault on the Havens of Sirion.
East Beleriand south of the Andram
Visited
Mariner of Gondolin
Voronwë
NoldorVoronwë, son of Aranwë of Gondolin, was the only survivor of the ships Turgon sent to seek Valinor. Spared by Ulmo and cast ashore at Nevrast, he met Tuor at Vinyamar and guided him through the Fell Winter to the hidden city, so that Ulmo's warning reached Turgon.
Gondolin
Peoples
Timeline
- F.A. 456
Turgon's mariners
Companies from Gondolin come secretly to the delta to build ships and sail west with Círdan's help.
- F.A. 473
Fall of the Falas
Círdan's people retreat to Balar and the mouths of the river after the western havens are destroyed.
- F.A. 496
Voronwë's return
The sole survivor of Turgon's seven ships is cast ashore near the coast and meets Tuor.
- F.A. 506
Elwing comes to Sirion
The survivors of Doriath settle at the delta with the Silmaril.
- F.A. 511
The Gondolindrim arrive
Tuor and Idril bring the fugitives of Gondolin to the Havens; the two peoples become one.
- F.A. 525
Eärendil weds Elwing
Tuor and Idril sail into the West; Eärendil becomes lord of the Havens.
- F.A. 532
Birth of Elrond and Elros
The twin sons of Eärendil and Elwing are born at the Havens.
- F.A. 538
The Third Kinslaying
The sons of Fëanor sack the Havens; Elwing escapes with the Silmaril; Maglor takes Elrond and Elros.
- F.A. 542
Eärendil reaches Aman
With the Silmaril Eärendil passes the Shadowy Seas and pleads for Elves and Men before the Valar.
- F.A. 587
The delta drowned
The Mouths of Sirion go under the sea in the breaking of Beleriand.
Sources
- The SilmarillionQuenta Silmarillion, chapters 18, 23, 24
- Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earthOf Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin, on Voronwë and Turgon's ships
- The Fellowship of the RingBook II, chapter 1, the song of Eärendil
See also
Part of
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